This is plain wrong. Oracle will do garbage collection at due time. that
is, if there is not enough free space left "in the middle" but Oracle
knows the total free space for the block is "good enough"...

and for this type of investigations, you don't need BBED. just "alter
system dump ..." will do the trick.

cheers,
Lex.

> Thanks to all that have responded...>> Well, something that I've noticed with regular dumps is that when you> update a null column in a record, the whole row is migrated within the> block to a new location and the space in never reused... I want to use> bbed to see if that is true...>> Thanks again to all,>> Abraham>> -----Original Message-----> From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Parker, Matthew> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 2:22 AM> To: tanel.poder.003_at_mail.ee; oracle-l_at_freelists.org> Subject: RE: How can I get the BBED password?>>> An excellent observation Tanel.> Abraham, what exactly are you looking to accomplish? The standard dump
=3D
> =3D3D> utilities of Oracle provide most of what you may be looking for. Out
of
> =3D3D> all the block repairs I have had to do over the years, the only thing
=3D
> =3D3D> bbed has provided me is the ability to run a verify on the block I
have
> =3D3D> repaired before I replace the block in the file, since dbv requires
the
> =3D3D> block to be a part of the file, otherwise I find the tool to be less
=3D3D
> than useful.=3D3D20>> In the world there are about 7 Oracle BDE/RDBMS development people who
=3D
> =3D3D> can edit blocks well and only 1 or 2 others who understand and try to
=3D
> =3D3D> edit the redo stream, and in my dealings with most of them they have
=3D3D
> their own tools because bbed is archaic. The lower end Support
personnel
> =3D3D> who do use bbed, normally do not have the skills or knowledge to edit
=3D
> =3D3D> the blocks in the first place.>> If you are trying to understand block structures, then you should read
=3D
> =3D3D> the documentation and the many papers that are available. There is no
=3D
> =3D3D> single source of information that will tell you everything and there
are
> =3D3D> a lot of flags and pointer values that are not documented anywhere but
=3D
> =3D3D> in the code itself. In the last year working on lots of block =3D3D> corruptions from Linux induced problems, almost every time, the actual
=3D
> =3D3D> people who can edit blocks well, had to reference the code for =3D3D> determination of some of the flags. It is just the reality that =3D3D> everyone, can't know everything.> So back to the question, what are you truly trying to find out? The
tool
> =3D3D> has no training mode and it does not document the oracle block
structure
> =3D3D> for you.=3D3D20>>> -----Original Message-----> From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org =3D3D> [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Tanel P=3D3DF5der> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:24 PM> To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org> Subject: Re: How can I get the BBED password?>> Hi,>> It's a really trivial task to find the password if you think about it
a
> =3D3D> bit,=3D3D20> that's why I think it's everyone's own responsibility to find it out
if
> =3D3D> you=3D3D20> actually need the utility. Also, the more people start messing up> their=3D3D20> databases with bbed, the more likely will Oracle remove it from =3D> next=3D3D20> distribution at all or encrypt the password or similar...>> Tanel.>> ----- Original Message -----=3D3D20> From: "Guerra, Abraham J" <AGUERRA_at_amfam.com>> To: <oracle-l_at_freelists.org>> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 10:39 PM> Subject: How can I get the BBED password?>>>> Hello all,>>>> I'm trying to dump some blocks with bbed. It asks for a password.>> According to Steve Adams, if I used strings on bbed I should find the>> password in 30 seconds... It's been 3 days... anybody know how to
find
>> it?>>>> TIA.>>>> Abraham Guerra>> American Family Insurance>> Oracle DBA>> -->> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l=3D3D20>> --> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l> --> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l> --> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l>